OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES Engaging with Mr Imran Khan ‘GLOBAL GREENING’ SOUNDS GOOD. IN THE LONG RUN, IT’S TERRIBLE. Rising carbon dioxide levels are making the world greener. But that’s nothing to celebrate. Page 10 ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM Vol VIII No. 78 IDEA EXCHANGE Trivendra Singh Rawat ‘Tourism is the future of Uttarakhand... We are focused on developing 13 new destinations’ Page 4 Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM LEISURE NOVEL, CAMERA, ACTION PUNE SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2018 14 Pages, `10 SPOTLIGHT THE POST TRUTH Will the post office be able to hold its relevance in times to come? Most importantly, is it time for the post office to revamp and modify its model and operations? Page 7 WORDSWORTH DECODING DEMOCRACY How Democracy Ends is a hard-hitting book that explains why leaders like Trump may not mean the end of democracy Page 5 FINANCIALEXPRESS ON SUNDAY PUBLISHED FROM:AHMEDABAD, BENGALURU, CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI, HYDERABAD, KOCHI, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, PUNE GST COUNCIL DATA PROTECTION Now, localisation of cloud Tax burden on MSMEs storage data on the cards likely to be relaxed ● Draft report of panel headed by Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan wants data generated in India to be stored within country CLOUD CONTROL ■ Kris Gopalakrishnan (pictured) says he hopes to submit the draft report to the information technology ministry before month-end, or at least by September 15 ■ Draft says India must consider securing data sovereignty ■ Proposals could raise costs for big technology companies ■ Those increased costs could be passed onto customers REUTERS New Delhi, August 4 APANELWORKING onthegov- ernment’s cloud computing policywants data generated in India to be stored within the country, according to its draft report seen by Reuters, a proposal that could deal a blow to global technology giants such asAmazon and Microsoft,who offer such services. It could not only raise their costs,because theywill need to ramp up the number and size ofdatastoragecentresinIndia, where power costs remain high,but at least some of those increasesarelikelytobepassed onto customers, who include everyone from small start-ups to large Indian corporations. The policy will be the latest inaseriesofproposalsthatseek to spur data localisation in India, as the government finalises an overarching data protection law.Local data storage requirements for digital payments and e-commerce sectors are also being planned. The authorities want the information stored locally so that they can more easily get access to it when conducting investigations. India’spushforlocalisation comes at a time of heightened US tariff on metals: India Indian mission submits Nirav notifies plan to defer Modi extradition request to UK retaliation to Sept 18 THE INDIAN high commission in London has handQuickPicks ed over the extradition request documents for fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, wanted in India as a prime accused in the $2-billion loan fraud scam at Punjab National Bank, to the UK Central Authority, according to official sources in London, reports PTI. The unit within the UK government's home office will now process the request, which falls under mutual legal assistance requests, to assist in criminal investigations or proceedings, before an extradition warrant can be issued against Modi. PAGE 3 ODD & EVEN ROHNIT PHORE tariffwar,at least temporarily. India is hopeful of getting a waiverfrom the extra tariff on INDIA HAS NOTIFIED its deci- the metals. sion to defer levying retaliaAnalysts have said since tory tariff worth close to $235 both the countries will hold million on 29 US products, the so-called 2+2 strategic including almonds and apples, and defence dialogue in Sepby 45 days to September, it makes tember 18. The sense for India to The move would proposed retalia- allow more time to wait until then.It tion is against the becomes difficult both countries to Trump administo negotiate ensure a tration’s move to meaningfully meaningful slap an additional once retaliatory 25% dutyon steel steps take effect, outcome to the and 10% on ongoing trade and they have said. aluminium sup- other negotiations Sources had told plies from select FE that Washingcountries,includton wanted India ing India. to defer the plan, The Indian move would at least until talks between allow more time to both the the two sides on a mutuallycountries to ensure a mean- agreeable trade package ingful outcome to the ongo- are over. ing trade and other negotiations, apart from easing a Continued on Page 14 FE BUREAU New Delhi, August 4 Bringing the shine back to gold market NITI convenes meet of ministers on Aug 10 to prepare action plan PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, August 4 WATAL PANEL PROPOSALS WITH A NITI Aayog panel rec- ommending cuts in taxes on gold and other measures to transform the domestic gold market to create jobs and double its contribution of GDP by 2022, the think-tank has convened an inter-ministerial meeting on August 10 to prepare an action plan. The panel also recommended introduction of a new Gold SavingsAccount (GSA),as well as revamping of the ongoing Gold Monetization Scheme and Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme (SGBS). The panel, headed by NITI Aayog’s principal economic adviser Ratan P Watal, had submitted its report to the government in February this year. To increase the market size without negative impact on current account deficit (CAD), widening of which led to increase in customs dutyfrom 1% to 10% between 2011 and 2013,the panel has suggested READ TO LEAD Many Indian literary bestsellers have become the new hot scripts for web adaptations Page 9 ■ Cut import duty and capital and conducive taxation regime to gold mining viable ■ Remove commodity transaction tax levied @0.01% on gold derivatives ■ Simplify duty drawback on gold for the purpose of jewellery export ■ Single window transactions in gold transactions GST on gold and gold ore clearance, easier risk cuts in import duty and goods and services tax (levied at the rate of 3%) to boost exports.It also suggested measures to increase domestic supply of ■ Incentivise digital gold through mining,refining and recycling of gold in households and religious institutions, which are estimated to possess around 23,000- 24,000 tonne of gold. Theinter-ministerialmeeting, which will be attended by economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan and a representative from the Reserve Bank of India, among others, are expected to deliberate on measures to boost domestic supply of gold to reduce dependence on gold imports by streamlining policies on gold mining, refining and monetisation. The NITI report envisions that by 2022, employment opportunities in gold industry will rise from 6.1 million in FY17 to 10 million, its contribution to GDP to double from 1.3% to 2.5-3% and more than double gold exports from $8 billion to $20 billion. To incentivise use of gold as against hoarding, it has suggestedintroductionofGSAtargetedattheruralpopulationas analternativefinancialsavings instrument backed by gold. Continued on Page 14 global scrutiny of how companies store user data. In July, India said its authorities had begun probing Cambridge Analytica’smisuseofFacebook userdata,whichNewDelhisuspects included information on Indian users. Thedraftreportofthecloud policypanel,whichisheadedby Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, said a “forward looking” data protection regimewasneededasIndia’sIT lawsframeworkwas“notsufficient”for cloud computing. “We recommend localisation of cloud data and anydata that is stored about Indian entities or data generated in India,” it said, adding this data “must be available for investigative agencies and national security agencies”. Gopalakrishnandeclinedto comment on the draft report, butsaidhehopestosubmititto the information technology ministrybefore month-end,or at least by September 15. A spokesman for the IT ministry said the department would review the report once it’s submitted, but won’t comment before that. Continued on Page 14 ● Panel set up to decide nature of incentives; digital transactions to get benefits too FE BUREAU New Delhi, August 4 THE GOODS AND Service Tax (GST) Council on Saturday decided to constitute a committee to further discuss and proposestepsforeasingthetax burden on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) under the year-old comprehensive indirect tax regime. Althoughtherewasnoconsensus on the kind of relief to be given to these units, the Delhi governmenthasproposedthat the Centre and state refund a certain portion of tax paid by MSME businesses registered for GST. Additionally, the council approved the launch of a pilot project for incentivising digital transactions; the sops would be limited to Rupay cards and UPI-based payment mechanism. Under this FM Piyush Goyal and finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia during the 29th meeting of the GST Council in New Delhi on Saturday TASHI TOBGYAL scheme, a cashback of 20% of the GSTwould be given to consumers,with a ceiling of `100 per transaction, finance minister Piyush Goyal said. The pilot will be run in states that volunteer for it. Based on the benefits of the scheme, the council would decide the scheme’s eventual rollout across the country. As FE had reported earlier, the government was considering the proposal of extending tax sops to the MSME sector in terms of refunds. The idea behind the proposal is that while large sections of MSMEs had been exempt from excise aswellVATdutyin pre-GST regime,they are now paying GST equivalents of both these taxes. This has led to lowermargins and inability to compete in the market for small taxpayers. “So what has been decided is that the GoM will be formed and within six weeks,they will be given some kind of a report onhowdoweenableindustries to compete and what are the processesthataredestabilising the smallerplayers,”Manpreet Badal,Punjabfinanceminister, said after the meeting. Continued on Page 14

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